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Offline MyraTopic starter

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Newbie questions
« on: July 20, 2003, 02:24:27 PM »
Oi,

I've just acquired a plain Amiga 1200 with 1 GB HD, 3.1 kick + system. Its mostly for nostalgia's sake, so I won't run the latest apps. Mostly old games and demos, I hope they install easily on the HD. Don't think I'll upgrade it. But the Amiga always was special to me, had much fun with the games and Amos Pro & Deluxe Paint.

Anyway, Amiga Explorer is running ok (although slow...  :-x ), so is Workbench 3.1. But got some questions:

First the HD. It has 2 partitions, I think I want to make it one. Or is that not recommended? How many partitions do you have? What tools should I use etc?

My Amiga is NTSC, although its keyboard is UK... :-? So I want to boot my Amiga automatically in PAL. The 2 Mouse button menu doesn't have a save, so how do I put  Degrader in the WBStartup (without the menu, like in a script/batch file) so it automatically runs 50 Hz at every boot (also cold boot)?
 

Offline Dr_Righteous

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2003, 03:10:17 PM »
Multiple partitions, tho not necessary, are generally a good thing... You want to keep the Workbench partition seperate from your general working partitions. It keeps things running smoothly.

With your setup, I would divide it up like this:
100MB Workbench: (for Workbench and such)
300MB Games: (for your games)
300MB Applications: (for non-games)
~300MB Files: (remaining room used to store archives and other junk)

This gives you plenty of room for add-ons to workbench... Ample space for games... Room for Apps (since if you stick around here, you'll end up doing more with that SWEEEEET li'l Miggy than just games)... And of course room to store downloaded archives and files.

As for auto starting Degrader, you can try putting it in S:user-startup (aka Workbench:S/user-startup)... Failing that you can also try it at the end of S:startup-sequence. -- (I've never used Degrader, so someone correct me if I'm mistaken here)

Enjoy!

Edit:  Another (MAJOR) advantage of seperate partitions is you can quickformat a partition if for some reason things get out of hand, without destroying everything on the system.
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Offline mikeymike

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2003, 03:12:40 PM »
I thought there was a switch on the back of A1200s to flick between NTSC and PAL?
 

Offline Calen

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2003, 03:20:40 PM »
There is no switch on the A1200 to do that.

There is a little program to make the switch you need which you could add to your user startup but i can't find it atm, soz.

You may find what you need on Aminet
 

Offline SilvrDrgn

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2003, 03:21:40 PM »
Michael
 

Offline Ilwrath

Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2003, 04:15:31 PM »
From Warren Block's excellent references... This time, the A1200 Hardware FAQ-

Quote
Q. Is there an internal jumper on the A1200 to set it to default to PAL or NTSC video?

A. No, but if you're really motivated, you can rig this up. My thanks to Tetsuo Oda and Byron Montgomerie, who provided the information that connecting pin 41 of the Alice custom chip to ground causes the A1200 to default to NTSC, while pulling this pin high (disconnecting it from the motherboard and connecting it to +5V through a 4.7k resistor) will make the default power-up state PAL. I would point out that making a modification like this on a surface-mount chip is difficult at best, and you may end up needing an expensive motherboard replacement, or, at worst, a dead A1200 that needs an expensive replacement motherboard available. In most cases, using the boot menu (obtained by pressing both mouse buttons on power-up or reset) to switch to PAL is sufficient. However, with some games, the hardware patch will be necessary to insure proper timing (changing to PAL via the boot menu might make a 50 Hz game run at 60 Hz timing, or vice versa).


So, there is no jumper to set in hardware, and the hardware modification is difficult.  

I would say Degrader is probably the way to go (it works better than the 2-mouse button Early Startup menu), but I probably wouldn't put Degrader into your startup.  Personally, I'd leave the machine defaulting to NTSC, and then only switch it to PAL when needed.  (That's what my A1200 does, and it's used almost exclusivly for games and demos)

Degrader can be called from the CLI/Shell
degrader SurviveNoReset|SurviveReset|SurviveResets

I think a more detailed list can be found by typing
degrader ?

(Note, that's degrader then a space, then a ?)

Anyhow, for going to PAL, I'd recommend the line:
Quote
degrader 50hz 50hzSystem SurviveNoReset

which will switch your 1200 to PAL without resetting it.  That's often enough, but sometimes you'll need to reset your machine into PAL for better compatibility.  (Then, use the line SurviveResets which will make your A1200 into a PAL machine until you pull the power plug on it.)  That mode is very compatible with old games and demos.

If you really want to make the machine default to PAL, you'll need a file that can detect which PAL/NTSC mode you're in from a shelll, and you'll need to write an IF statement into your s:startup-sequence.  It's not always recommended to modify the startup-sequence, though.  (but placing this in the User-Startup can often-times be to late in the computer's start-up procedure to call it properly.)
 

Offline lempkee

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2003, 05:29:01 PM »
to the main poster:

Check wHDLoAD.DE  

this is the best hd installer for all orginal games and demos , its still in progress so ofcourse not all is covered yet, but u will need to have the orginals to use it.

Also its shareware , so it costs 15 quid or something, if you register then u can use em all,if not then u cant use all functions and some stuff wont work at all.

beyond that , if you are a classic user, and into nostalagia, check out "back to the roots" website. , this has alot of games/demos for your exellent setup :)

also aminet is a dear friend to many, check that aswell (might take a few years to go trough all :) )

beyond that , i really would recomend u to get atLEAST some fast memory in your setup , a cheap blizzard 1220 card with 4 or 8megs of fastram , that will do you heaps of happiness for now.

enjoy your setup and welcome.
Whats up with all the hate!
 

Offline Matt_H

Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2003, 06:13:18 PM »
You can put degrader early in the s:startup-sequence. The syntax you'll want is:
degrader 50hz 50hzsystem survivenoreset noeditop
to switch right into PAL without brining up the degarder menu.
There are some more useful PAL utilities in the CD32 dev kit on the Amiga developer CD. You could set it to only boot into PAL if certain joypad buttons are held down, or to automaticially execute certain statements (IE, degrader) if the system isn't PAL. This would allow you to make PAL reset resident, using the surviveresets arguement. It results in a more compatible PAL softhack than survivenoreset.
 

Offline MyraTopic starter

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2003, 12:27:20 AM »
Thanks for the help and links.  :-)

About degrader. I'll add that line to startup-sequence tomorrow. I think I'll buy a Blizzard 1230 and add some RAM to it. Might as well buy OS 3.9 to go with it, since I can install it in WinUAE too, right?.

If I purchase OS 3.9, can I install it without a CD-Rom drive? Will copying the CD to the HD, and installing from there, work? On amiga.com's site it says it requires a CD-Rom drive...
 

Offline downix

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2003, 12:32:09 AM »
@Myra

Yes, you can copy to the HD and install from there.  I've done that plenty of times.
Try blazedmongers new Free Universal Computer kit, available with the GUI toolkit Your Own Universe, the popular IT edition, Extremely Reliable System for embedded work, Enhanced Database development and Wide Area Development system for telecommuting.
 

Offline Linchpin

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2003, 04:24:41 PM »
Quote
Don't think I'll upgrade it. But the Amiga always was special to me, had much fun with the games and Amos Pro & Deluxe Paint.



and...
Quote
I think I'll buy a Blizzard 1230 and add some RAM to it. Might as well buy OS 3.9 to go with it, since I can install it in WinUAE too, right?.


hee hee hee

didnt take you long :-p

:roflmao:
WinUAE Only... OS3.9 with 512mb ZIII ram ;)